On February 28, in Hanoi, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung and Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Phan Van Mai co-chaired a workshop on consulting the city’s planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050.
The workshop was held this morning, February 28th, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Planning and Investment
In his opening speech at the workshop, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung clearly stated that this planning aims to create new space, new momentum, and new value for Ho Chi Minh City. He emphasized that Ho Chi Minh City is a special urban area and the leading economic, cultural, social, educational, and technological center of the country. However, in recent times, the city’s development has faced many difficulties and challenges, not commensurate with its potential, advantages, and expectations.
Minister Nguyen Chi Dung believes that Ho Chi Minh City’s leading role and leadership in the Southeast region as well as in the country have tended to decline in recent years. At the same time, in the context of other localities surpassing it, Ho Chi Minh City is showing signs of slowdown. The city’s economic structure is also changing slowly, and labor productivity is also a concern for the city.
The city’s development organization still has many shortcomings, and the infrastructure is still limited in attracting investment and connecting with the internal and inter-regional areas. These shortcomings have led to the city’s leading role not being fully harnessed. Minister Nguyen Chi Dung also raised the issue that Ho Chi Minh City’s advantage in terms of international gateway will decrease in the near future when Long Thanh International Airport is put into operation.
As the Chairman of the Planning Appraisal Council, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung also frankly stated that the city’s urban infrastructure is overloaded and the development of underground infrastructure is slow, resulting in the quality of people’s lives not being significantly improved, and facing problems of flooding, traffic congestion, etc.
Therefore, at this workshop, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung proposed that the delegates give their opinions on the key issues that Ho Chi Minh City needs to address at present, and the key focus of the Planning. At the same time, determine the breakthrough phase in the coming time.
According to the Minister, Ho Chi Minh City has also proposed growth targets and scenarios, as well as the vision of the city in the draft Planning. The Minister asked experts to thoroughly assess these issues to determine the suitability of the goals, scenarios, and vision.
The Minister also suggested that the workshop focus on opinions about the city’s priority sectors and areas; opinions on the development of the city’s infrastructure, including transportation infrastructure, underground infrastructure, digital infrastructure, etc.; water source security; and cultural and social development.
He further emphasized the development of urban infrastructure, underground infrastructure, urban railways, saying that the slow development of these areas in recent times has led to problems of traffic congestion, flooding, and environmental pollution.
Therefore, in the Planning, it is necessary to determine how to implement infrastructure development to ensure progress, avoid delays as in the case of Metro Line 1 Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien. “Solving the city’s current flooding problem also faces many challenges, along with environmental pollution, fine dust. We have to solve this problem soon, otherwise it will take more time and effort to solve it later,” Minister Nguyen Chi Dung expressed concerns.
Ho Chi Minh City assumes the role of a major center for the country’s economy, culture, and society
Before entering the discussion session, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Phan Van Mai affirmed the city’s awareness and determination in building the Planning. According to Chairman Phan Van Mai, Ho Chi Minh City identifies itself as a major center for the country’s economy, culture, and society in the context of international integration and competition. The city has the responsibility to establish its position, role, and tasks in the development of the country.
“The Planning must identify all the current bottlenecks, limitations of the city and open up all the potential and motive power so that the city can fulfill its roles. Building on the city’s preparations for the planning dossier, I hope that the delegates will help the city identify these key points,” emphasized Chairman Phan Van Mai.
The city authorities made it clear that the Planning is not only for the city, and the city cannot do it alone. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh City implements this work in the context of regional linkage, international cooperation. “We place it in the context of international cooperation, starting from the regional level such as Southeast Asia, Asia, and then establishing the city’s connection with major cities of other countries,” said Chairman Phan Van Mai.
